Rail maintenance vehicle, car collide west of South Bend

South Shore looking into crash on Pear Road

South Shore looking into crash on Pear Road

December 04, 2007|By JOSHUA STOWE Tribune Staff Writer

LYDICK Â? A pregnant woman escaped serious injury Tuesday afternoon when a South Shore maintenance vehicle struck her car at a grade crossing west of South Bend, St. Joseph County police said. Police identified the woman as 18-year-old Amy Winter of South Bend. Winter was taken to a local hospital, where she was treated and released, a spokeswoman said.

The crash occurred when WinterÂ?s car, which was southbound on Pear Road, crossed South Shore railroad tracks and was hit by a westbound maintenance vehicle.

Sgt. William Redman, a county police spokesman, said that Winter appeared to have the right of way and that crossing lights were not activated.

John Parsons, a spokesman for the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District that owns and operates the South Shore line, said that NICTD will investigate whether the employee driving the maintenance vehicle followed proper procedure.

Some South Shore maintenance vehicles do not activate crossing lights, Parsons said, but the driver is supposed to stop short of the crossing and sound a whistle.

Â?That's the procedure in cases like this,Â? he said. Â?We're waiting to see the police report and to conduct our own internal investigation to see what happened with this. I don't know how long it will take for us to reach a conclusion.Â?

Parsons said that TuesdayÂ?s crash was not the first involving a South Shore maintenance vehicle, but added that there has not been another such crash in some time.

The South Shore uses several types of maintenance vehicles on its tracks to ensure that they stay in the proper position, he said. The vehicle involved in TuesdayÂ?s accident is used to resurface the stones in which rail ties sit.

The Pear Road crossing where the accident happened is north of Indiana 2 and south of Edison Road in an unincorporated area of St. Joseph County.